Happy Wednesday all! I've come back from Lake George well rested, full of grilled meat and a new perspective on blogging.

As always today is Top Chef recap day.

Our cheftestants are Jonathan Waxman, he's a big deal mucky muck in the culinary world, Roy Yamaguchi, whom I remember judged the finale of Top Chef Season 2 (fuck you Roy if yr the reason Elan won!), Art Smith, I sooooooo wanna be his fag hag, and handsome handsome bespectacled Michael Cimarusti.

For the Quickfire, the cheftestants chose from the knife block o' doom! and picked random numbers, wherein the cheftestants had to shop in a grocery aisle w/ their corresponding number and keep to the budget of 20 buckaroos. I remember this challenge from Season 3, Malarky won. He's a douche, my friend Robin said she was flipping the channels one day and saw Malarky on that idiotic Real Fishwives of Some Snotty Overpriced Location. Scoring a perfect score of 5 points was Michael, who got stuck w/ the baking aisle and cranked out a chocolate parfait. Who doesn't like parfaits?! And coming in w/ the lowest points was Jonathan w/a lentil and roasted red pepper salad that he made from the rice and dried beans and jarred veggie aisle. Too much onion, old man!

I have to say, this Elimination Challenge was one of my faves. The cheftestants chose another cheftestants name and had to create a mystery box of ingredients, the cheftestants had to use 7 out of 12 ingredients. What really piqued my interest was that no one tried to sabotage their competitor. So vastly different from the regular Top Chef. And getting the boot first was Roy and his over cooked short ribs and mahi mahi w/ the over powering lemongrass. Gotta be careful w/ that, dude. And the last cheftestant to go to the Finals is Art and his world class fried chicken 2 ways over grits and mini mango pie.

3. My renewed interest in ska. I had the honour and privilege to see The English Beat live last week. Dave Wakeling still has his voice, they were amazing and they played "Save it for Later" last. My fave! And yes I did wear black and white.

I'm going on vacation to Lake George. Lots of swimming and drinking abound. And healthy snacks, can't forget those! I'll be back next week.

Monday, July 20, 2009

1)Describe the worst job you've ever had? And your best? Oh golly, the worst? Hmmmmm....... I worked briefly at an arts n' crafts store when I was 18. I had to bag beads and check out snotty bitch-faced customers. Plus my manager was gigantic lesbian ogre that hadn't gotten laid in about 35 years. Best job was working at Zone Music & Video for 1 precious year. I watched movies and listened to music all day. Best best best.

2) Name the most terrifying moment of your life so far. My night terrors are pretty terrifying.

3) What are you wearing right now? Jean shorts, glasses, and a dirty grey T-shirt.

4) Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one. "The sun, she is setting."

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Hola, Chef-heads! Sorry my posts have been spotty lately, I've been feeling under the weather and uninspired. Perhaps when I awake from my Nyquil fog, I'll be a happy blogger once again.

Over at Top Chef, we had 4 cheftestants that I've never heard of or seen on the show already. It was actually a nice change of pace, sometimes I have preconceived notions of the participants. We had Douglas Rodriguez, Anita Lo, John Besh and Mark Peel. IDK, they seemed very very low key, all of them. For their Quickfire, the cheftestants had to make an egg dish w/ one hand "tied behind their backs, the challenge in it's original form is from the 1st Top Chef All Stars epi. Snooty asshole Stephen won w/ an omelet. It's so wrong that I want to jump that man's bones. What can I say, I like prime assholes. Anyways, lowest amount of points was awarded to John and his over easy egg casserole. All them came out under cooked. Blech! Raw cold eggs, bad chef! And top points went to Anita, she made some kick ass looking scrambled eggs in the egg shell infused w/ Asian flavours. To die for! And she's the 1st chef to get a perfect score in the Quickfire this season.

For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to make a plate at the Magic Castle in LA for Doogie Howser. Holy cow, I still cannot believe that man is gay! So, the chefs had to pick a card and create a plate using the word they chose as inspiration for the meal. Spectacle, Illusion (thoughts of Doug Henning rush through my head), Mystery and Surprise. And first eliminated was John and his surprising horseradish & creme fraiche sorbet served w/ salmon tartare, salmon roe, cauliflower blini and tempura fried lobster wrapped in smoked salmon. Apparently, NOBODY like the sorbet. Not a fan of savoury desserts myself. And making it a clean sweep, Anita Lo and illusion go on to the the grand champion round w/ her awesomely fantastic sea scape plate of daikon filled w/ steak tartare made to look like a scallop and crushed Rice Crispies for the sand and little of seafood broth for the salty ocean.

For the Quickfire Challenge, we are harkened back to Season 2 again, the colour challenge. Mikey won for doing a plate of orange foods. They are really hammering the Season 2 down my throat. Is that the best season? Anyways, I'm rambling. Ludo scores the lowest amount of points for his red debacle, it was runny yucky mess of watermelon, tomato and steak tartare. It sounds good in theory. And scoring the most points was Wilo and his plate of orange w/ salmon tartare and carrots. It looked pretty but I wouldn't eat it.

For the Elimination Challenge, the cheftestants had to choose a mystery ingredient and take said ingredient and make into street food for the masses at Universal Studios. And the ingredients were all the left over bits that most Americans HATE. I was watching this epi w/ Sexybeast's Vietnamese friend. "What the big deal? I eat that stuff all the time!" I also recall that Season 2 had a Quickfire involving offal as well. Somebody over at the Bravo network must be doin' one of the former cheftestants from Season 2. You heard it hear 1st! And 1st eliminated was sweet Cindy. Aww. She's seems like a phenomenal chef but her menudo tripe was horribly under seasoned. And going on the winner's circle is the most awesome Rick Bayless and his tongue tacos. WOO HOO!!! I hope he wins in the end.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

I just made dinner for my father and myself. My parents are in their 60's and are semi-retired and as such they go to their log cabin in the Adirondacks all summer. Pops comes home every Tuesday to work at one of the local wine & liquor stores and mow our lawn. As we settled into our dinner conversation, he informed me that since it was pouring buckets he wasn't staying. But he wanted to enjoy my company for the short time he had before heading back to the woods. Awwww.

Pops is a great guy, infinitely patient, a Yankee fan til death and the go to guy for all questions (he's a freakin' encyclopedia!).

For Father's Day (and yes I know that was last month), I took him out for pizza and surprised him w/ a DVD of one his faves, The Great Santini.

I've seen this film twice, the first time was when I was 11. For those of you not in the know, Robert Duval plays a hard ass Air Force colonel w/ 4 kids and devoted wife. However, Santini severely lacks any type of emotion other than crazed joy and Guns of the Fucking Navaronne anger. I remember telling Pops that I thought Santini was jerk, "Su-Su, someday you'll appreciate this movie." Upon 2nd viewing, I could see where Pops was coming from. Santini makes the greatest sacrifice at the end.

Monday, July 6, 2009

What is the longest love relationship (partner) you have had, and if it has ended, why? True confession time! My current boyfriend is the only boyfriend I've ever had. We are going on 16 months and just bought a house together.